Feed water regulator



J1me 1934- v. v. VEENSCHOTEN 1,963,390

FEED WATER REGULATOR Filed June 8, 1951 Patented June 19, 1934 EQE FEED WATER REGULATOR Vincent V. Veenschoten, Erie, Pa., assignor to Northern Equipment Company, Erie, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application June 8, 1931, Serial No. 542,774

7 Claims.

This invention relates to feed water regulators for boilers and has for its object providing a very compact, simple, strong and effective feed water regulator, arranged so that it may be very conveniently and cheaply installed and adjusted, and so that it will require little or no attention and will be entirely dependable.

Of the accompanying drawing, Fig. 1 is an elevation of a boiler with my feed water regulator attached, showing the general arrangement of the various parts; Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view of the regulator alone; Fig. 3 is a central sectional elevation of the regulator; and Fig. 4 is a plan view of the valve seat of the regulator enlarged.

The feed water regulator is adapted to be applied to a steam. boiler, such as the boiler 5, and is adapted to operate the feed water valve 6 of the boiler which is mounted in the feed water pipe '7, this pipe being supplied in any suitable manner with a continuous supply of water under suitable pressure. The feed water regulator comprises a thermostatic tube 8 which is connected at its upper end by means of a pipe 9 to the steam space of the boiler, such as the steam dome 1G; and the tube is also connected, by means of a pipe 11, to the water space of the boiler, or to the lower end of the Water gauge 12. When connected in this manner, the elevation of the water in the tube 8 will at all times be at substantially the same height as in the boiler. As the water level in the boiler rises or sinks, the water in the tube will rise and sink accordingly, and the thermostatic tube 8 will contract or expand accordingly.

The upper end of the tube 8 is adjustably connected to a stem 13 which passes through the stuffing-box 14. With the inner end of the stem 13 is associated the disk 15 which is arranged to coact with the valve seat 16 of the feed water valve 6. As is well understood, the pressure of the water in the inlet 17 of the valve will be materially greater than in the outlet 18 and, in normal operation, the thermostatic tube 8 will allow the disk 15 to be forced by the water sufficiently away from the valve seat to supply the desired amount of water to the boiler and, as the tube expands or contracts, the disk 15 will move away from or approach the seat 16, so as to suitably control the flow of water to the boiler, dependv ing upon the demand.

The stem 13 passes freely through a guide 20 and also passes freely through the disk 15, so as to allow the disk to tip slightly with reference to the stem and, at times, when the valve is to be closed, to thus fit snugly against the valve seat.

With this tendency, there is also a tendency of the disk to rotate more or less in operation so as to have a slight tendency to grind the valve and to vary the points of contact of the valve disk and the seat.

To prevent leakage between the disk and the stern, a cap 21 is provided which is screwed snugly against the disk and provided, if desired, with any suitable gasket. The guide 20 is preferably, as indicated, integral with the valve seat, the seat being threaded into the partition 22. Openings 23 are formed in the guide member to allow the free passage of water therethrough.

The various members which comprise the valve are so arranged as to be very conveniently formed, by machining, out of bars, so that stainless steel or other desirable material may be used. It will be seen that the valve seat and guide can be turned into shape, the openings 23 drilled and the thread cut on the shank portion in an ordinary manner, so that the entire, seat and. guide member may be formed from bar stock. Similarly with the disk 15, and also with the stem 13.

An important feature of my invention comprises the method of supporting the thermostatic tube. As isunderstood by those familiar with the art, it is important that the slightest variation in length of the thermostatic tube shall be transferred to the valve, was to move the valve exactly the same amount as the tube varies in length. When so arranged, the control of the water to the boiler is such as to maintain at all times the water level elevation in the boiler at the desired point or within the desired range of limits. For this reason, there should be no loose play in connection with the system and, as will be seen, this is the case with my regulator, as the entire system is firmly bolted together and bolted to the valve casing itself by means of the side bars 22. These bars are bolted directly to the casing of the valve 6 by means of bolts 29, and the outer ends of the bars are firmly bolted to the casing 24 by means of bolts 26.

The casing 24 is arranged to enclose the spring 25 which allows excess contraction of the tube after the Valve is closed. Obviously, if the tube is contracting and the valve disk is brought firmly against the seat, any further contraction of the tube must be cared for, and this is done by means of the spring. Within the casing and the spring is a tube 2'7 which extends from the inner end of the casing 24 outwardly any suitable distance.

In this instance, washers 28 and 30 are positioned on the shank 31, which is fixed to the outer end of the thermostatic tube in any suitable manner,

and nuts 32 and 33 are used to firmly press the washers against the end of the tube. The washer 28 also presses the spring 25 against the inner end of the casing, so that the spring is at all times held under more or less compression.

In operation, the compression of the spring 25 normally holds the shank 31 and, hence, the outer end of the tube 8 firmly in position, the inner end of the tube and the stem 13 being at liberty to move freely so as to control properly the valve opening. If, however, the valve disk 15 comes in contact with the seat and the tube continues to contract, the spring 25 will yield sufiiciently to care for the excess contraction.

By this arrangement, it will be seen that, normally, there is no action on the spring, as it merely holds the shank 31 firmly in place in the outer ends of the bars 22 and, in fact, no action of the spring is necessary until the valve is entirely closed, and then only sufficient to allow for the excess contraction in the tube. In this manner, the liability of any crystallizing and breaking of the spring by continuous variations therein is eliminated, and also the compressive force of the spring is maintained constant.

It will be seen that, by bolting the bars 22 di rectly to the valve casing, an exceedingly strong, simple and compact means is provided for supporting the thermostatic tube, as no other support is required other than the ordinary connection by pipes to the boiler of the other end of the tube. Also, the tube itself may be thus very quickly and conveniently installed, and removed if that should be desired, and the angular arrangement of the tube with reference to the valve casing is firmly maintained.

The adjustment of the tube with reference to the valve may be produced by means of the lock nut 35. By loosening the nut, the stem 13 may be screwed farther into or out of the pipe fitting 36, thus closing or opening the valve more for a given elevation of water in the boiler. Also, by screwing the nuts 32 and 33 to the left or to the right, adjustment can be made, or the tube 8 may be more exactly positioned with reference to the pipes 9 and 11, so as to avoid any tendency of the pipes to spring the tube 8.

A feature of consequence is the fact that the spring is enclosed by the casing and washer 28, so as to prevent dust and the like getting into the casing and injuriously affecting the spring and its operation.

I claim as my invention:

1. A feed water regulator comprising a valve casing and a spring casing, a pair of bars, one end of each bar being rigidly fixed with reference to the sides of the valve casing, and the other ends being rigidly fixed with reference to the sides of the spring casing, the bars being parallel and on opposite sides of the casings, a thermostatic tube adapted to be operatively connected to a boiler mounted between said bars, a stem projecting axially from each end of the tube, one of said stems being fixed with reference to the plunger of said valve, and the other stem being slidably mounted in said spring casing, said valve casing being adapted to be operatively connected to the boiler and to a water supply pipe, and a spring operatively mounted on the spring casing bar between its outer end and the end of the spring casing.

2. A feed water regulator as claimed in claim 1, including means for longitudinally adjusting the normal position of said tube with reference to said bars.

3. A feed water regulator as claimed in claim 1, including a nut threaded onto the outer end of said casing stem, said spring encircling said casing stem between the wall of the casing and said nut.

4. A feed water regulator as claimed in claim 1, including a nut threaded onto said casing stem on each side of said casing, said spring in said casing being mounted on said stem between-the outer nut and the farther wall of the casing, and a sleeve within said spring on the stem between the outer nut and said wall and arranged to hold them apart.

5. In a feed water regulator as claimed in claim 1, said tube by means of said spring being yieldingly mounted with reference to said spring cas-' 6. In a feed water regulator as claimed in claim 1, said tube being arranged to move said plunger to open said valve as the tube expands.

7. A feed water regulator comprising a valve casing and a spring abutment, a set of bars, one end of each bar being rigidly fixed with reference to the valve casing, and the other ends being rigidly fixed with reference to the spring abutment, the bars being parallel, a thermostatic tube adapted to be operatively connected to a boiler mounted between the bars, an axially arranged stem connected to each end of the tube, one of said stems being fixed with reference to the plunger of said valve, and the other stem being slidably mounted in said spring abutment, said valve casing being adapted to be connected to the boiler and to a water supply pipe and a spring operatively mounted on the spring abutment stem between its outer end and the spring abutment.

VINCENT V. VEENSCl-IOTEN. 

